Santa Rosa school district, Gulf Breeze agree to Tiger Point land sale

The Santa Rosa County School District has made an offer on a 45-acre parcel at Tiger Point Golf Course in Gulf Breeze. The $1.9 million offer was approved but now could be jeopardy based on a new appraisal of the land.(Photo11: Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com)Buy Photo

The Santa Rosa County School District finally has land for a new school in Tiger Point.

After months of negotiations, including a previous deal approved by the school district and the city of Gulf Breeze, the Gulf Breeze City Council signed off on the sale of 45 acres on the west course of Tiger Point Golf Course for $1.9 million.

The City Council approved the sale during its executive session meeting Oct. 31. The council is expected to finalize the sale without additional discussion during its regular meeting Monday evening at Gulf Breeze City Hall.

"I'm excited on two fronts," Santa Rosa County School District Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said. "First and foremost, the security of having property in the south end has been a goal of this board. In the end, it was a group of committed individuals in Gulf Breeze understanding how important this was. It's evidence of how important the schools and the school system are to the community."

When the school district's intention to buy the land was revealed earlier this year, Wyrosdick said the district was interested in the Gulf Breeze-owned property as a site to build a new school.

"We need access and we need acreage, and we believe this property fulfills the need, and the amount of the property gives us an elementary school, middle school or combination," Wyrosdick said in March.

Wyrosdick said as long as the deal is formally approved by the Gulf Breeze City Council on Monday, he should be able to present the plan to the Santa Rosa County School Board for approval at its Nov. 15 meeting.

The School Board and the City Council approved a sale within 24 hours in March, but the deal hit a snag later in the spring when Gulf Breeze Mayor Matt Dannheisser expressed reservations based on multiple concerns.

The mayor, the only dissenting voice in all previous Gulf Breeze votes on the sale, said in April that he wanted the City Council to receive an updated appraisal on the value of the land before settling on a sale price.

Brantley & Associates Real Estate Appraisal Corp. in Pensacola showed the property to be worth $3.6 million to $1.7 million, or 90 percent more than price approved by the city and district.

Dannheisser said his concern with the city accepting a lower sale price was the effect on South Santa Rosa Utility System customers who through their rates pay off the city's debt after it bought the golf course six years ago.

The city bought the golf course for $2.78 million in December 2012, primarily as a site to expand its wastewater treatment plant rather than building a second plant at another location for approximately $40 million. The city also took on the golf course as a source to dispose treated effluent that was also a cost-saving measure for utility customers, the mayor said.

Gulf Breeze has been operating the utility system since 1989, and the SSRUS board recommended that the City Council approve the latest deal with the school system at its Oct. 22 meeting.

Dannheisser said he supported the current sale — for the same price as previously discussed — because it properly addressed effluent disposal that under the previous deal would've cost utility system customers more than $2 million.

Under this proposal, the school district has to take care of more than 320,000 gallons per day of effluent disposal at the 45-acre site and two other district-owned sites within the utility system's service area.

Dannheisser said the total value to the city with this deal is more than $2.8 million, with the $1.9 million sale price plus $200,000 to extend a transmission line to allow disposal at the Navarre K-8 school site and an additional $760,000 that the utility system would've paid if effluent disposal capacity was lost.

"This is where we should have been from the outset and I'm glad that we reached that point at this juncture," Dannheisser said.

Also at the golf course, the City Council this week approved sale of the 12.97 acres of the driving range to Tiger Point Apartments LLC for $1.5 million with terms and conditions resulting in an estimated value to the utility system of $2.2 million with what the LLC will pick up in lost effluent capacity, according to city documents.

Gulf Breeze City Manager Samantha Abell said that in 2016 the City Council requested that the city look to move the driving range closer to the course. The council said then it wanted to fund the relocation with proceeds of the sale from the existing driving range.

"We've been waiting for the right offer to come along and that finally occurred with the most recent offer," Abell said.